Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a control method therefor.
Description of the Related Art
Recently, from consideration of environment, power consumption reduction, i.e., power saving has progressed in overall electric and electronic products, such as home electric appliances and office equipment. Among image processing apparatuses, such as a multi-function peripheral (MFP) having a plurality of functions, e.g., an original document reading function, a printing function, and a communication function, some power saving models have been put into practical use which achieves power saving by, e.g., automatically shifting to a power saving mode when no operation is performed for a predetermined time.
The power saving of the MFPs has progressed, while multifunctionalization thereof has progressed. A form of multifunctionalization which connects peripheral devices to an MFP via universal serial bus (USB) interfaces (USB I/Fs) is increasing. Examples of the peripheral devices are an authentication card reader, a multimedia card reader, and a keyboard.
As an example of a conventional power saving technique, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-216117 discusses a technique that reduces power consumption while peripheral devices (USB devices) are connected to an image processing apparatus via a USB I/F. More specifically, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-216117 describes a configuration in which the USB devices connected to the image processing apparatus are shifted to a disuse state when the image processing apparatus is shifted to a disuse state.
However, there are various types of peripheral devices to be connected to an image processing apparatus. It may be undesirable for some peripheral devices to be shifted to a disuse state when an image processing apparatus is shifted to a disuse state. For example, when an authentication card reader is connected to an image processing apparatus as a peripheral device, it is undesirable to shift, when the image processing apparatus is in a disuse state, the authentication card reader to a disuse state. This is because the authentication card reader in the disuse state cannot perform an authentication operation even when a user tries to log into the image processing apparatus via the authentication card reader.